


Clean

by Wallwalker



Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Bathing, Canon - Original Game, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Nudity, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-11 00:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7866919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker





	Clean

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



"I almost miss hunting Cie'th," Vanille said as she stepped into the water. "They didn’t _bleed._ "

Fang turned, saw her staring sadly at the hide skirt that she's left abandoned on the edge of the water. It's caked in dirt and dried blood, and one side has been torn by the huge cat's impressive claws. Vanille's good at repairing her clothes, but Fang has a sneaking feeling she's not going to see this one as worth the effort. "Aye, true enough," Fang answered, smiling. "Still, it's nice to have somethin' to carry back to town for the effort."

"Yeah, but still. Yuck!" Vanille dropped to her knees, scooped up enough water to start scrubbing at her arms. Fang had gotten a lucky hit in, and unfortunately Vanille had been close enough to catch a nice spray of arterial blood. At least she hadn't been _facing_ it; Fang knew what _that_ felt like. She shuddered just thinking about it. 

"You know the water would be nicer warm," Fang commented idly, watching her girlfriend shiver as she splashed more water on her shoulder. "Why don't you ever take the time?"

"It takes too long," Vanille shot back, wrinkling her nose. "I want this stuff off of me _now!_ Besides, I can take a proper hot bath when we get back to Oerba." 

Fang chuckled as she shook her head, and started stripping off her own clothes. Vanille wasn't really cut out to be a hunter, and they both knew it, but her energetic nature did make up for a lot. "Well, if you hadn't been there, I doubt we would've felled the beastie, so I'm certainly grateful. We'll just have to get you another skirt later."

"Oh, c'mon." Vanille looked up at her, and Fang could see the blush on her cheeks. "You could've handled it on your own!" 

"Only if I was very lucky." It was completely true, and they both knew it; there was a reason that the other hunters in Oerba had taught them never to face a Coeurl alone. If Vanille hadn't been there to distract it and keep it from making a proper effort to attack them, it could've blasted Fang clear across the plains, and she doubted there would've been much left of her to find. 

"Well... you usually are," Vanille replied, but she was definitely blushing more now. She stood up, wiping her pink hair away from her face.

"Not always." Fang stepped into the water to join her. "You've missed a spot or two, love. Mind if I give you a hand?”

“Of course I don’t,” Vanille said. Oh, how she blushed. They’d been together for so long, and she still acted as if they’d just met sometimes. Fang found it impossibly and ridiculously endearing. 

They were quiet for a bit as Fang worked on washing off the worst of the blood. Vanille kept making tiny distracting noises as Fang touched her, and if they’d been back in Oerba with warm water and proper soap she might’ve ended up doing something different than just bathing with her, but under the circumstances it probably would’ve ended badly, and Fang was patient. Once they were clean enough they’d head back, Vanille probably wrapped in one of Fang’s spare cloaks, and once they were back in Oerba safe and sound... well. It was certainly something to look forward to. 

“Fang,” Vanille said after a while, and Fang looked up, expecting something light-hearted... only to see Vanille reaching for her shoulder. _That_ shoulder, in fact. 

“Dear, please,” Fang said softly, but Vanille’s face was too serious now. She didn’t pull her hand back, and Fang shivered slightly as she ran her fingers over the brand. She kept her eyes on Vanille’s face, away from the identical black marks on Vanille’s hip. 

“I always thought it would hurt,” Vanille said distantly. “I mean, they never said that it would, but I thought that was just so we wouldn’t be too scared if we were chosen.” She bit her lower lip, frowning. “Do you think it’ll hurt later, if we never find out what we’re supposed to do?” 

“That won’t happen.” Fang looked her in the face, staring into her tired eyes. “You know that it won’t.” 

“I know. It’s just hard to believe.” She shut her eyes and turned away. “All of the others, they had their dreams right away. They knew why they were chosen, although sometimes it was hard to figure out. But it’s been weeks, and I still haven’t seen anything. If the fal’Cie want us to do something, why can’t they tell us what it is? Do they want us to end up like... like _them?_ ” 

Fang sighed, thinking of the Cie’th that they’d used to hunt, the poor lost souls who’d wandered too close to the settlement. She knew that killing them was a comfort, but ever since they’d been branded... she knew what was going on in Vanille’s mind, because Fang had thought about it too. How many of them had spent the last months or years of their lives wondering what it was they were meant to do, waiting for some kind of a sign that had just never come? How many of them had wandered Gran Pulse looking for some kind of clue, until they’d finally lost the last little bit of their humanity? 

Fang could live with knowing that she was going to lose herself. Not as if she’d be able to think too hard about it by then, after all. But seeing Vanille as she lost her mind, well, that was something she would never be able to bear. 

“We’ll figure this out,” she said again, pulling Vanille close and kissing her on her forehead. Even if she couldn’t figure out what she herself was meant to do, she’d find some way to save Vanille from changing.

“I hope you’re right,” Vanille said, her voice muffled. She wrapped her long thin arms around Fang’s torso, and Fang returned the embrace, and they stood in the water for a long time, barely noticing the cold anymore.


End file.
